A must bookmark, as mentioned previous times before – would be Susan’s site. Specifically written for Almaty is: http://kazakhadoptivefamilies.com/cities/almaty.html I promise you won’t regret a moment of time you spend researching and learning there.

During Max’s adoption, we were able to explore Almaty at the beginning and end of our adoption journey. We actually spent a little over a week in Almaty in April of 2001 with Max’s adoption. We returned to... more

Many parents want to understand a little bit of Russian or Kazakh prior to their adoption trips. And most certainly for the parents who are adopting an older child and need to communicate their basic needs, they will want to learn at least the basics. That waiting stage is so difficult; it might help to focus on learning your child’s language!

Although my husband and I did not learn any words prior to travel – I did try and thought I’d share some of the resources that I had investigated and have heard about from other adoptive... more

I’m blogging about the various cities in Kazakhstan, in hopes of giving adoptive families a quick snapshot of their children’s birth city. Hopefully it will become a source of information for families hoping to adopt also.

Taraz was formerly known as Zhambyl – so if searching the Internet it may be worth entering both variations to obtain information. Taraz is located in Southern Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan borders it. It is a large and fairly modern city. Long ago it flourished as a stop along the Silk Road. Taraz has a rich history and... more

For those of you who are adopting in 2007, it is always nice to know what dates the Embassy will not be open to process paperwork (please note - some are US Holidays and some Kazakhstan)…..

http://www.usembassy.kz/embassy/holiday-2007.html

EMBASSY HOLIDAY SCHEDULE 2007

January 1 Monday New Year's Holiday

January 2 Tuesday New Year's Holiday

January 15 Monday Martin Luther King, Jr's Birthday

February 19 Monday George Washington's Birthday

March 8 Thursday Women's day

March... more

Outbreak of viral hepatitis A in Semipalatinsk, 60 hospitalised Kazakhstan today

SEMIPALATINSK. An outbreak of viral hepatitis A has been registered in Semipalatinsk, Farida Kabdullina, chief of department of the isolation hospital for children, told Kazakhstan Today correspondent.

According to her, currently 60 residents of Semipalatinsk have been hospitalised. 45 of them are adults aged 25 - 35 and 10 children of pre-school and school age. "There are regular outbreaks of this viral infection every 5 - 7 years, The hepatitis cases will be growing in the nearest two years," - she explained.

"Now there are patients with aftereffects, the adults are... more

I’m hoping to help you explore the various cities of Kazakhstan – so families who have adopted can have city information in one blog. Since I have two children from Kazakhstan, I thought I would start with their birth cities.

Max, our oldest is from Semey, which its full name is Semipalatinsky. The name is derived from the seven-halled Buddhist temple (seven palaces) – found in 1718. It is a river port, rail terminus and commercial center. It has one of the country’s largest meat packing plant. It has a theatre and three museums.

I... more

I think once any of us have adopted, we love to share in the joy of other families being built through international adoption! I thought I’d share a few blogs with you ---- in case you want to follow along:

Michael & Holly are in the bonding process in Taraz, Kazakhstan with their daughter. They are a couple from warm sunny CA – spending time in bone chilling Taraz to get the best heart warming gift ever – their little girl. If you’d like to read about their journey, log on to: http://hollyandmichael-kazakhstan.blogspot.com/2007/01/step-at-time.html

Brad & Pet are just arriving in... more

Having been in the adoption world since 1991, the abbreviations or what some call --- adoption lingo --- has become second nature to me – maybe working in the human resource field has helped a bit too! I feel today’s cyber world is filled with lots of abbreviations that have “meaning”. As I have mentioned in my previous blogs, my very dear friend is just starting in the adoption world and found herself lost with all this. I saw a post on another group site asking just what all the abbreviations meant.

So today, I thought I’d blog about the most common ones used in my various Kazakhstan groups…….

USCIS – United States Citizen & Immigration Services BH – Baby House... more

As with most countries, as the number of children who join forever families grow, guidelines that weren’t in place during one year – come in to effect or are enforced during another adoption. Our requirements for Max’s post placement reports differed than the ones required for Logan – we followed each agency’s guidelines and requirements and submitted them. We are approaching our “final” post placement report for Logan this April.

What we’ve learned over the years is that Kazakhstan requires an annual report until our sons turn 18. Many parents who adopted in previous years are NOT aware of this requirement and I often wonder if they aren’t “linked” to any Internet based group –... more

Some times I think certain “adoption related topics” are considered taboo in the adoption community. Searching in Kazakhstan is definitely one of those “hot” buttons. You’ll have adoptive parents who are told by their adoption agency that searching is “illegal” – while there is a bit a truth in that – if you decide to explore and have the marriage and family law translated – you’ll find it illegal for the birth family, prosecutor or judge to inquire or pursue information about the adoptive family or children after an adoption is complete;... more